Posts Tagged ‘ice cream’

Our favorite things week moves right along with 3 of our favorite locally-made frozen treats of summer. Our love of dairy extends beyond cheese every once in a while, and we spend a fair bit of our summers searching out the best and brightest ice creams and other frozen goodies. Like these…

1. Roasted Strawberry Gelato from Dolcezza — if you missed it, you’re out of luck till next year as the strawberry season here is so fleeting. But, you really can’t go wrong with any of Dolcezza’s decadent gelato flavors. Chocolate mint stracciatella is always a favorite of mine.

2. Salted Caramel Popcorn Macaron Ice Cream Sandwich from Milk Cult– discovered at the Farm-to-Street Party, Milk Cult is a mobile ice cream sandwich and cold brew coffee company. What a coincidence, those may be my two favorite things.

The DC Scoop, an annual taste-off of some of the District’s best* frozen treats, returns to Union Market this Sunday, July 21.

Taking place from 1:00 to 4:00pm, participants will taste and vote on ice cream, gelato and other treats from over a dozen local purveyors. Three well-loved children’s performers will keep the kids entertained, including foodietot-fave Mr. Skip. And kids can enter an ice-cream eating competition, to be held at 3:00pm.

*I’m not sure how a “best of” can take place without the Dairy Godmother, but the competition is still pretty stiff. We’re especially fond of Dolcezza and Pitango, in particular.

A quick note for those of you in DC: 15 of the best local ice cream vendors will be competing for the title of Best Frozen Treat in DC on Saturday, August 20, 1:00 to 4:00pm. The DC Scoop is a free community event taking place rain or shine outdoors at the new Union Market (6th St NE and Florida Ave). For the kids, in addition to sweet treats, there will be a hands-free ice cream eating contest, face painting, balloon artist and live music. More info can be found on www.facebook.com/thedcscoop.

I wasn’t kidding about squeezing every last bit of summer out of the month. Today may be the first day of fall, but don’t pack up the ice cream maker just yet. It’s supposed to reach 90 degrees in DC again today, and you can still find sweet white nectarines at the farmers market. So I implore you, take some home and make a batch of this sweet summer gelato before it’s too late. (Or, save it for some of those peaches you froze for winter. Ice cream is a year-round food, in my opinion.)

Recipe: Nectarine Gelato

Ingredients:

5 medium-sized nectarines

5 egg yolks (preferably from your local egg farmer)

2 cups cream-top whole milk (or just whole milk)

1 cup organic cane sugar, divided

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla paste (or extract)

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Instructions: Coarsely chop nectarines (no need to peel) and place them in a non-reactive saucepan. Combine with 1/2 cup sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, almond extract and nutmeg and bring to a simmer over medium low heat. Simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until fruit is soft and you can mash it with the back of the spoon. Let cool, then puree in a blender or food processor.

In a heavy-bottomed pot, warm milk and the other 1/2 cup of sugar over medium heat just until bubbles begin to appear and sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally.

In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks well for about a minute. Ladle the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking continuously, one spoonful at a time until you’ve incorporated about half the milk into the eggs. Then pour the eggs/milk back into the remaining milk in the pot. Cook, stirring frequently, over medium low heat until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of your spoon. Remove from heat, stir in the nectarine purée and let cool. Transfer to a bowl or pitcher, cover, and chill overnight or for at least 8 hours in the refrigerator.

Process the chilled mixture according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. I have the KitchenAid ice cream maker and mix it on medium low for about 12 minutes. Transfer to a tupperware container and freeze until firm, about 4 more hours. Makes 1 quart. Enjoy!

Note: You can adjust the sugar in the nectarines according to the sweetness of your fruit.

It’s peach season and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they hold out long enough for me to can some for winter. In the meantime, here’s the peach gelato that made me swoon, if I do say so myself.

Ever wonder what the difference is between ice cream and gelato? Sherbet and sorbet? As far as I can tell, from my extensive google research, the difference between ice cream, gelato, sherbet and sorbet is something like this:

ice cream, French = milk, cream, eggs

ice cream, Philadelphia/American = milk, cream, no eggs

gelato = milk, maybe eggs, no cream

sorbet = just fruit, no dairy or eggs

sherbet = milk, no cream and no eggs

Still confused? Short version: if you taste the cream first, it’s ice cream. If you taste the fruit first, it’s gelato. That’s the official FoodieTots definition at any rate. Now I set out to make Philadelphia-style peach ice cream, but the bottle I had labeled cream was in fact buttermilk; instead I used my cream-top whole milk, so while it has a little cream it is mostly milk. It has the texture and strongly fruit-forward taste of gelato, so that’s what I’m calling it.

Recipe: Peach Gelato

Ingredients:

4-5 peaches (1 1/2 pounds), peeled

1/4 cup honey

1/2 vanilla bean (or 1 teaspoon vanilla)

1 cup cream-top whole milk

juice of 1 lemon wedge

Instructions: I use the boil/ice bath method to peel peaches. It seems like a hassle but trust me, it’s a lot easier and time saving in the long run then trying to scrape peels off with a paring knife. Score the bottom of each peach with a small “x” cut, then drop them into boiling water for 20 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and place them into a colander set in ice water for several seconds, then set on cutting board and leave several minutes to cool. The skins will pretty much slip right off at that point.

Dice the peaches and place in a medium stock pot over medium high heat, add honey and seeds of the vanilla bean. Cook until peaches begin to fall apart, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for several minutes. Add milk and blend in small batches in a blender, or use an immersion blender in the pot. I recommend the regular blender to make sure there are no chunks — in a home freezer, the chunks of fruit get too icy and aren’t as flavorful as in commercial ice creams. Stir in the lemon juice and pour into a glass bowl or pitcher. Chill thoroughly in the refrigerator (I leave it overnight) and then process according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. (I use the Kitchen Aid ice cream attachment and mix it for 10-12 minutes, until it thickens and reaches a very soft icy consistency, then freeze for 3-4 hours.) Enjoy!

Shared with Fight Back Fridays at the Food Renegade, because once you’ve had homemade ice cream — or gelato — you’ll never go back to that commercial chemical goop from the supermarket.